Chapter 304: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words? (3/10, Autumn Subscription)

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu leaned in for a closer look and was immediately taken aback.

The photo showed a street, with layers of figures in the foreground; it seemed the photographer had hidden behind the crowd and, through a narrow gap, secretly snapped the shot with an outstretched phone.

Through that tiny gap, looking into the gathered crowd, one could see a stretcher covered by a white cloth; the wind had lifted one corner slightly, revealing the headless corpse on the stretcher.

Even though the distance was far, the image instantly made Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu feel uncomfortable, a little nauseous.

No matter how much she had experienced in the game, reality was always reality; seeing such a disgusting scene in real life was honestly more than Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu could handle.

But she still noticed that on the right hand of the headless corpse, where the wind had blown the white cloth open, there really was a watch on it—a Game Watch, identical to the one she was wearing now!

"This is…"

"Mm, I downloaded and saved it from the campus network."

"Is it a real photo? Or was it photoshopped?"

"Not sure, but all the discussions about this picture on the forum have been deleted now, and there's no news online either. If you really want to know, we can go ask around—it's just something that happened at the boys' school next door anyway."

The high school the two of them attended was one of the more prominent key high schools in Jianghai City.

Due to the school's historical evolution, what had once been a co-ed school had split into two schools—a boys' school and a girls' school.

In terms of official documents and such, they really were two schools, but in reality, the upper administration was the same group of people; it was simply split into two schools for easier management.

So the boys' school next door really was literally the boys' school next door, not far from their own school.

But whether boys' school or girls' school, both were semi-closed with fairly strict management, so Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu was a little hesitant.

"That doesn't seem right… asking for leave just because of something like this, the teacher won't agree."

"Then forget it, I'll wait until Sunday's day off when I'm free and find someone to go ask at the boys' school."

Although the game "Blue Sea" had many astonishing aspects, saying that playing the game could kill someone or anything like that was just too fantastical, so in reality neither of them really believed the picture was genuine.

After chatting a bit more, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu went back to eat, then returned to the dorm and logged back into the game; however, Tail was rather unwilling, hesitant and reluctant to come online—days like being in prison were too boring, the only upside being someone nearby to guide her in martial arts practice.

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu, on the other hand, got online in the game very quickly.

Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a face that was a little too close.

For an instant of blankness, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu nearly screamed out loud.

But after her brain processed for a second, she immediately recognized the owner of that face.

"Ye Ge?"

"Mm? You're online."

Fang Yue glanced at her and continued fumbling under her pillow.

"Ye—Ye Ge, y-you-you-you, where are you touching? A night raid or something is not allowed!!"

Saying so, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu shoved Fang Yue back two steps with force, her face flushing slightly, her breathing having quickened at some point without her knowing.

"What are you doing? I'm feeling under the pillow, why are you pushing me?"

Hearing Fang Yue's words, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu calmed down a little, but soon raised her voice: "A-a girl's pillow, you can't just go fumbling around under it either! What if there's something hidden there!"

"Obviously! I came specifically for the thing you hid. Where did you put the thing Hua Qiuqiu gave you?"

Hua Qiuqiu? The thing?

Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu thought for a moment before recalling the afternoon's events.

"So it was for the box… by the way, Ye Ge, when did you get back to the village?"

As she spoke, Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu opened the inside of her pillow, fished out a small iron-hard box, and, under Fang Yue's strange gaze, handed the box over with a red face.

"Why are you looking at me like that! Hiding things inside the pillow makes me feel safe!"

Fang Yue rolled his eyes; he knew that with Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu's single-celled brain, the place she hid things couldn't be anything complicated.

While examining and observing the small box, Fang Yue said: "I just got back to the village not long ago either. When I heard from the Deputy Captain that Hua Qiuqiu had come, I came straight to you to get the thing."

By the time Fang Yue said this, he had already inspected the small box; apart from the keychain, he couldn't find any opening, and no one knew what was inside.

"By the way, did Hua Qiuqiu mention to you someone called 'Bai Daya'?"

Bai Daya was the name of Bai Xiaoya's character in Qingsi County.

But when Fang Yue asked Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu, she was completely clueless.

It seemed that aside from receiving things, she didn't bother with anything else.

Fang Yue sighed; after returning to the village and learning that Hua Qiuqiu had come looking for him, he had gone to the Hua Family right away.

But the result he got was that Hua Qiuqiu had already left Mo Cun again.

Fang Yue figured that even if Bai Xiaoya had notified Hua Qiuqiu, she shouldn't have rushed back so quickly—after all, Qingsi County was still quite far away. He planned to confirm with Bai Xiaoya when he logged off later, whether she and Hua Qiuqiu had actually met.

Continuing to ask Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu about anything that had happened in the village while he was away, Fang Yue sorted through the information.

First, the preliminary round for Mo Cun's third Captain position had already begun, and most of the contestants weren't that strong. As for Deputy Captains with strong competitiveness like Lang Mo, they skipped the preliminaries entirely and waited for the top-16 arena matches.

Chief Captain Lang Wu had previously sent someone to ask Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu to pass along a message, telling Fang Yue that when he returned, if he had time, to come serve as a judge or something.

If he had the time, Fang Yue naturally didn't mind going to take a look.

As for the escort team, only the final wrap-up remained, and in one more day it could be completely finished. If in a hurry, they could even set off back to Gu Yue Cun right now.

"Ye Ge, what's inside this box?"

"I can't even open it, how would I know."

"Oh…" Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu felt a little disappointed; seeming to remember something, she asked again: "Oh right, Ye Ge, why did it take you so long to get back to the village? Judging by the time Tail got back, you guys were apart for several days."

The moment Tian Dan Zhi Yuan Wu brought this up, Fang Yue felt a bit depressed.

Originally, he could have returned to the village two days earlier.

But halfway there, he had been held up by the Xu Pai Hunting Team he had met before.

Fang Yue hadn't wanted to bother with them, but seeing that they had even spent money to hire people to accompany them, stationed at the core area of Ruoyun Stone Ground, waiting pitifully for so long just for a chance—

Fang Yue ultimately softened and accompanied them for a few days; fortunately, the final result was still decent.

Just as the Blood Hunter had said, this young hunting team led by Xu Pai was very talented.

After leading them deeper into Maple Leaf Forest, where the Great-Headed Bloodhounds were more numerous, they gained many chances to try their hand.

After killing over thirty Great-Headed Bloodhounds, they finally caught the trail of a pup.

(End of chapter)